Hi there. Welcome to this revision video for EdXLGCC History, the American West, 1835 to 1895. This is a predicted paper exam walkthrough for the 2025 series. So, a word of caution. This walkthrough paper has been designed by analyzing previous exams, but the best way to prepare for the exam is to revise all the topics. These are examples of questions that have not come up recently, and they cover the whole range of the specification. Okay, so this is an overview of the exam questions that you're going to face for the American West. So an explain one consequence of question. Remember this is new for 2025. Previously it was explain two consequence of the same event. So you're going to get a little bit more coverage on this paper. Question two is the narrative account question. It's the one where you really got to connect and link different events together using phrases like this led to as a result of a consequence was that. And in question three, you have to choose two events from a choice of three. It's the explain the importance of question. You got to focus on the consequences and significance of an event on relations uh between different groups in the American West. Explain how important it was. So you're going to use phrases like this was important because this resulted in this affected relations because remember this paper is mainly about significance and consequence. They're the main second order concepts that you are going to be writing about in your exam question. So this is the predicted paper looking at some questions that have not come up for a while. So 1 A, explain one consequence of the Fort Laram treaty of 1851. Fort Larammy treaty has not come up before. Explain one consequence of the wounded knee massacre of 1890. That's not come up before. Write a narrative account analyzing the key events of changes and development of the cattle industry. This has kind of come up before, but the idea of the goodnight loving trail and abilain hasn't particularly. So that's going to be really interesting to look at. And then explain two of the following. Uh this covers the three different parts of the spec. The importance of the Oregon Trail for encouraging migration west has come up before but not for a very long time. The importance of new technology and new farming methods for encouraging settlement on the plains in the 1860s and the importance of the doors act 1887 on the ways of life the indigenous peoples of the plains. So these questions have not come up um before in such you know a detailed way. So we're going to have a look at how to approach this exam question now. So explain one consequence of the Fort Laram treaty. To do question one, you must write about a specific consequence. Each consequence must include some specific knowledge such as date, event or name. And you need to include some analysis for this. So what it led to, what the consequence was. So an example answer for this would be a consequence of the Fort Laram treaty of 1851 was that it aimed to reduce conflict between indigenous tribes and settlers moving west by setting up boundaries. The US government promised to protect lands and provide tribes with annual payments. It led to uh more migration west and US building forts whilst it caused tension as indigenous peoples were less able to move freely in hunting the buffalo as they were now defined lands to hunt in. So you get that analysis there with phrases like it led to um other phrases you might use are as a result of. So that kind of historical language, it caused tension. This is where you're getting those analytical marks for. So later on in the spec um we're looking to explain one consequence of the wounded knee massacre of 1890. So again remember to write about specific consequence specific knowledge such as date, event, name, place etc. And each consequence must include some analysis what it led to what the consequence was. So one consequence of the wounded knee massacre is that the US army attacked the Lakota sue at Wounded Knee killing 146 including women and children. The scale of violence was shocking and a consequence was that it showed the US prepared to end indigenous resistance by force. The event marked the end of the so-called Indian wars and led to more indigenous peoples being forced onto reservations and assimilation. So in that last sentence, we've got that clear analysis of the significance and wider importance of the event. Um so remember each consequence needs specific knowledge to support it and focus on the impact and significance of an event using analytical language such as has this led to as a result of um use that historical language to really develop that analysis. So question we've chosen for question two is write a narrative account analyzing the key events of changes in the development of the cattle industry in the 1860s. Bullet points the good night loving trail and abain. We pick those bullet points because they never really been asked specifically before. So how to answer question two? You write about the event and time period using specific historical knowledge trying to give three detailed examples. Link key events in an organized chronological order. Think about a beginning, a middle, and an end. And use historical language like this led to as a result of as a consequence. So let's have a look at the three paragraphs. When cattle ranchers returned from the Civil War, Texas was full of longhorn cattle leading to an over supply. This led to the need for the creation of cattle trails to transport animals to market. One key development was the goodnight loving trail of 1866 settled by Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving to sell cattle at Fort Snar. This led to further trails being set up. The trails. So you see here what we're doing is we're making a link between the first and second paragraph. The trails then led to another key development in cow towns being set up on the railroad so that beef could be sold to cities in the east. Abalain was the first successful cow town set up in 1867 by Joseph McCoy. He built a hotel and loading ramps near the railroad so cattle could be transported east. This led to further trails like the Chisome trail being set up. This further led to the development of more cow towns allowing cowboys to drive their cattle north from Texas to the cow towns. Third paragraph from the cow towns a final key development on the cattle industry with the success of John who became known as the cattle baron of the plains. If realized that instead of driving cattle long distances to the railroads he could raise and fatten them on the actual planes leading to the development of ranching on the planes. As a result, IF supplied beef directly to nearby mining towns. And his success showed that ranching on the planes could be successful, thereby transforming the cattle industry. So, top tips for question two. Write in chronological order using specific and detailed knowledge. Gain analytical marks by writing how one event leads to another and writing about significance and consequence of key events. So, we're now going to look at question three. Explain the importance of the Oregon Trail for encouraging migration west. Now for this question you must write about the event and time period using specific historical knowledge. Write clearly about how X links to Y. Eg the impact of the Oregon Trail that's X for encouraging migration west. That's why if you like. So you're going to analyze the importance or significance of the event. Think about its results and what it led to and focus on knowledge and analysis. You're probably going to end up writing a couple of paragraphs for this but there's no hard and fast rule that you have to apply for. Um, so first paragraph, the Oregon Trail was important for encouraging early migration west. This is because the Oregon Trail provided a practical route for wagons to get across the Rocky Mountains, enabling settlers to reach the west. It was also a relatively safe route to get to Oregon. The fact that the US government had mapped the Oregon Trail made people confident that the journey west was possible, leading to thousands of families reaching the far west and leading to the settlement of new lands across the continent. Stories of successful crossings in the media also encouraged migration in the short term. Second paragraph. So you kind of need to look at a different aspect of importance within your second paragraph. So the Oregon Trail was also important because the US government linked the Oregon Trail to the idea of the manifest destiny. This was the belief that Americans had a god-given right to expand westward across the continent. It also helped the US government strengthen its claim of Oregon territory. As more Americans settled there, it led to increased pressure for the US to secure land, resulting in the Oregon Treaty of 1846 with Britain. This shows that the trail was important for migration and US settlement in the long term. So top tips uh for this um so you want to place the event into the correct context. So be thinking about things like what came before and after. Support the argument with detailed evidence. Make sure you analyze the importance of the event by focusing on consequences. Try analyzing both the short-term and long-term importance of a factor. Okay, next example. Explain the importance of new technology and farming methods for encouraging settlement on the planes in the 1860s. So, first paragraph. Before the 1860s, the Americans viewed the planes as a desert and did not think it was possible to live there. However, new technology enabled more Americans to both survive and thrive on the planes. For example, one problem was that there was a shortage of water on the planes. However, the development of metal wind pumps enabled settlers to get water. This was significant as it allowed further settlement on the planes and meant that white Americans now sought to live on the planes rather than simply cross it as they had done before. Okay, second paragraph. We're going to look at the different farming techniques this time. Um, furthermore, the development of new farming techniques enabled higher crop yields, enabling the homesteaders to farm successfully. The introduction of steel plows made it much easier for farmers to cultivate land. This was significant as it led to them being able to increase the size of their uh fields. This combined with hardy crops such as turkey red wheat from Russia and the use of farming techniques like dry farming which was significant for enabling more people to live on the plains. This was significant to encourage further settlement leading to settlement on the plains in states like Kansas and Colorado. Okay. So the next example answer we're going to look at is explain the importance of the doors act on the ways of life of the indigenous peoples of the plains. So let's read the example answer. The Dors Act was really important in changing the ways of life of the indigenous peoples. This is because under the DAR act, reservation land was divided into individual plots of 160 acres for indigenous people's families and surplus land that was not allocated was sold to white settlers. This was significant because it was an example of assimilation of indigenous peoples into American culture. This changed the ways of life because it was trying to force indigenous peoples to live like Americans and undermine tribal authority and social structures. It was significant as it represented a major shift from being separate nations to being assimilated into the USA. Secondly, the Doors Act was significant as it had both a short-term and long-term significance in taking tribal lands off indigenous peoples. Is estimated that between 1887 and 1934, indigenous peoples lost almost twothirds of tribal lands, demonstrating the long-term significance of the Dors Act. The loss of land changed ways of life and made it hard for indigenous tribes to sustain their culture. The impact was that more and more indigenous peoples ended up living on reservations, further changing their ways of life. Okay, thanks very much for listening to that predicted paper exam walkthrough for 2025 on the American West 1835 to 1895. Hope you enjoyed that and good luck with your GCSE exams.